2,100-Year-Old Fortification Wall Offers Answers to Mystery

IFCJ Canada  |  December 12, 2025

A section of a fortified wall in Jerusalem from the second century BCE has been uncovered in the Tower of David complex in the Old City this week. The Times of Israel reports the remains measure over 40 meters long and five meters wide.

What makes this ancient wall so mysterious is that evidence suggests that it was demolished deliberately rather than destroyed in a battle. The discovery of this section of the wall offers a possible explanation of why it was demolished, since it was found exactly where King Herod built his palace a century later.

The first-century CE Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus chronicled this period of Jewish history:

Josephus’s narrative offers a possible explanation for the historical destruction of the remains of the wall revealed in the excavation, Dr. Amit Re’em, IAA excavation co-director and chief archaeologist for the Jerusalem District, told The Times of Israel.

“What we saw in the excavation, and this is really interesting, is that the wall, this massive fortification, was deliberately destroyed to the ground, to the base of the wall,” Re’em said in a telephone interview. “Only the stump of the wall survived. This was no random destruction, not the aftermath of some kind of huge battle or of time passing. So, the big question is who did it?”

In the 1980s, hundreds of catapult stones, arrowheads, slingstones, and lead bullets were found in an excavation in an area adjacent to the wall, which researchers interpreted as evidence of Antiochus VII’s siege.

Researchers also offered another explanation for the wall’s demolition – that King Herod had it torn down himself to make room for his palace. This is because the wall was found on the palace grounds. Dr. Re’em says that the King might have done this to deliver a message to the Jewish people that there are no more Jewish kings and no more Hasmonean dynasty.  

Archaeologists also uncovered a section of an even older wall that dates to the First Temple Period. Researchers are set to start radiocarbon dating to learn more about this section as they prepare to preserve the rest of this historic find.